A Kenyan national plotted for years to launch a 9/11-style terror attack against the US, learning how to fly a plane and scheming to sneak into the country, federal prosecutors said Wednesday in indicting the man.
Operating under the orders of African terror group al-Shabaab, Cholo Abdi Abdullah “sought to obtain pilot training, test flaws in airport security, and take other steps for hijacking a civil aircraft,” prosecutors with the Southern District of New York alleged in a 19-page indictment unsealed Wednesday.
“This chilling callback to the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, is a stark reminder that terrorist groups like al-Shabaab remain committed to killing U.S. citizens and attacking the United States,” said acting Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss in announcing the case.
“But we remain even more resolute in our dedication to investigating, preventing, and prosecuting such lethal plots, and will use every tool in our arsenal to stop those who would commit acts of terrorism at home and abroad.”
In late 2016, Abdullah enrolled in a flight school in the Philippines, where he studied into 2019, eventually earning his pilot’s license, according to authorities.
Simultaneously, he conducted research into topics including “security on commercial airliners and how to breach a cockpit door from the outside, information about the tallest building in a major U.S. city, and information about how to obtain a US visa,” according to the indictment.
Prosecutors did not specify the US city in question.
But before Abdullah, 30, could follow through, he was arrested in the Philippines in the summer of 2019, according to the indictment.
Abdullah faces a slew of charges including conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to murder US nationals, conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy and conspiracy to destroy aircraft.
During a brief appearance Wednesday in federal court in Lower Manhattan, Abdullah pleaded not guilty.
Abdullah, who faces 20 years to life behind bars, was ordered detained and is due back in court on Jan. 6.
His lawyer, Jill Shellow, declined comment.